Door latch



ly 18, 96 D. E. SCHWANZ ET AL ,99 ,8 6

DOOR LATCH Filed Nov. 3, 1958 ,4 TTORNEKS' nited States Patent 2,992,846 DOOR LATCH Donald E. Schwanz and Vernon L. Sturman, Minneapolis,

Minn., assignors to Hiawatha Metalcraft, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn, a corporation of Minnesota Filed Nov. 3, 1958, Ser. No. 771,496 Claims. (Cl. 292-427) This invention relates to simplified latch mechanism for doors provided with body-thrust release means which also provides the resiliency for locking the latch when the door is closed.

This invention is an improvement in several respects upon our co-pending application, S.N. 679,917 entitled Push-Released Door Latch" and provides greater versatility in the mounting, adjustment for length and also tension of a multi-functional elongated push bar and guard element.

It is an object of our present invention to provide a very simple but highly efiicient and economical door latch with push-control release means and which structure may be quickly and easily mounted upon a door requiring only a simple opening through the door for installation thereof. While our invention is capable of use on any type of vertically hinged doors, it is particularly adapted for screen or storm doors where simplicity of structure and light weight are essential.

A further object of the present invention is the provision and connection of an elongated horizontally disposed inherently resilient push bar directly connected with a latch member for readily releasing the latch when the bar is pushed by the human body and for also returning the latch to locking position when the door is closed, and wherein a uniform structure of push bar and mounting bracket is readily adaptable for use on doors varying widely in width.

Another object is the provision of a multi-functional handle and push bar member readily assembled with simple latch mechnism and directly connectible therewith and insertable through a single opening of small size formed in a door adjacent the free edge thereof. An integral member provides a handle on the outer side of the door and a push bar release at the opposite side and in addition supplies the tension for returning the latch to a locking position and for retaining the latch when the door is closed. It also functions to act as a guard for protecting screen or glass panels in the door.

A still further object is the provision of structure of the class described wherein the stock of the body of the push bar and the mounting bracket and brackets therefore are readily adaptable for use as additional screen or glass guards on conventional swinging doors.

Another object is the provision of a novel and highly etlicient mounting for the multi-functional push bar of our structure wherein anchoring and tensioning of the push bar from. the rail of the door opposite the free edge Where the latch member is positioned may be efiiciently secured and the tension of the bar adjusted within certain limits.

These and other objects and advantages of our invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view taken through the medial portion of a vertically hinged screen door having a form of our improved mechanism applied thereto;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross section of the body portion of our push bar;

FIG. 3 is a cross section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG.

1 showing the fixed mounting of one end of the resilient I push bar;

2,992,846 Patented July 18, 1961 FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken through the right hand rail of the door along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal cross section taken substantially along the line 5-5 of FIG. 1 on a larger scale;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the body portion of the push bar utilized with a pair of mounting brackets as a fixed guard for screen or glass doors; and

FIG. 7 is an end elevation of the push bar.

Referring now to the improved structure illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5 inclusive, the same is operatively mounted upon a conventional type of screen door designated as an entirety by the letter D, hinged in the usual manner (not shown) from the right longitudinal edge or rail 8 thereof as viewed in FIG. 1. The free edge of the door at the left rail 9 cooperates as shown with a conventional door jam I which is provided appropriately at its inwardly offset vertical portion with a strike plate 10 which as shown has triangular spaced side portions ltla provided with outturned attachment feet 10b and interconnected by an inclined flat camming plate 10c. The rear edge of the inclined plate forms a detent for engaging and securing the locking shoulder 11a of a pivoted latch bar or member indicated as an entirety by the numeral 11.

Our entire latch mechanism with the exception of the inner and outer escutcheon plates 12 and 13 is insertable through and accommodated by a single bore or recess R shown of cylindrical shape, formed adjacent the free vertical edge of the door at an appropriate height. The door-recess R may be drilled with an ordinary brace and bit and need not be over one inch in diameter to accommodate our structure.

In the simple form of latch mechanism illustrated, we pivotally mount the bell crank type of latch bar 11 within a short channel member 14 which extends longitu dinally and medially through the aperture or bore as formed in the free portion of the door frame, as shown being supported and rigidly afiixed as by welding at one end thereof to the inside escutcheon plate 12 (see FIG. 5). The open side of the channel mounting 14 is disposed inwardly relative to the free edge of door D as shown in FIG. 5 and the L-shaped, bell crank latch bar 11 is accommodated between the side Walls 11a of the channel pivoted by a pin 15 between said sides at the apex of its shorter arm 11b and its longer arm which when the bar is locked, extends substantially parallel with the forward wall 14b of the channel mounting. Latch member 11 is constructed from a rigid flat sheet of suitable metal and the longer arm of the bell crank (11c) extends inwardly from the door as shown for some distance, terminating in the latch head which is defined at its side opposing the retaining plate 10 with a curved camming surface 11d, which is adapted to engage and be cammed inwardly away from the free edge of the door by contact with the inclined medial plate 100 of the strike plate or retaining element 10 during closing of the door.

The inside escutcheon plate 12 covers one end of the opening or bore R and is vertically slotted at 12a to accommodate a multi functional push bar indicated as an entirety by the numeral 16 and has a conmnunicating narrow horizontal slot 12b to accommodate the medial portion of the longer arm 1'10 of the bell crank latch plate. The outside escutcheon 13 is provided with a vertical slot 13a for accommodating the door traversing portion 16a of the push bar.

Referring now in detail to the multi-function push bar and handle member 16, it is preferably integrally constructed throughout of a somewhat flexible, light and resilient material such as for example aluminum alloy and has a substantially straight body portion 16b of a length sutficient to traverse. conventional doors of various and maximum widths. One end of the body 16b is then curved arcuately along the line 160 to provide the intermediate or door traversing portion 16a previously referred to which is straight and extends through the bore R formed adjacent the free edge of the door. The portion 16a of the push bar preferably is slightly narrowed in width relative to the curved portion and body as shown in FIG. 7, providing shoulders 16d, the lowermost of which may be utilized as a detent for locking the latch bar 11. To this end, as shown in FIG. 5, a slide plate 17 is mounted within the interior of escutcheon plate 12, being vertically disposed and connected with a knob 18 which is slidable vertically in a short slot to move the upper edge of the plate 17 into abutment against the lower shoulder 16d.

The extremity of the left hand end of the push bar 16 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 7 is curved inwardly along a line 16a and then gracefully curved and diminished to form an outside handle 16) for the latch construction.

The straight body 16b of the push bar may be easily cut for length at the straight end thereof to properly traverse and act as a guard and push bar for doors varying substantially in width.

At least the body 16b of the bar preferably is external- 1y grooved for tensioning and attachment purposes later to be described, the groove being indicated by the numeral 16g, and extending medially and longitudinally.

To provide for rigid and predetermined affixation of the end of the push bar 16 adjacent the hinged edge of the door, we provide special rigid bracket structure indicated as an entirety by the numeral 17, as shown in FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 6. The bracket 17 is generally of U-shaped construction having outturned attachment feet 17a which may be rigidly afiixed as by screws to the appropriate side rail of a door frame and having a head portion 17b internally shaped to snugly conform to the cross sectional shape of the straight portion of the push bar, as clearly shown in FIG. 3. The head portion 17b is formed with a pair of opposed bar-edge-receiving channels 170. The outer end 17b of the bracket which interconnects the channels 170 is for the most part flat, being offset or recessed to provide internally a transverse groove 1711 which is aligned and disposed oppositely from the groove 16g provided in the straight portion of the push bar. It will also be noted (see FIG. 4) that the outturned attachment feet 17a of the bracket have inner abutment surfaces 17e which are disposed in declined or acute angular relation relative to the interior surfaces defined by the outer portion 17b of the bracket and the channels 17c. As shown in FIG. 4, the cross sectional shape of the straight end of the push bar snugly fits the interior configuration of the bracket, normally disposing the attached end of the body 16b of the bar in slightly inclined relation to the general plane of the inner surface of the door proper and spacing the body 161) a short distance from the inner plane of the door. The affixed end of body 16b is disposed somewhat closer to the right hand rail of the door (see in FIG. 1) than the free left hand end of the body proper.

To assure the highest efficiency in the operation and functioning of our latch and releasing mechanism, it is important that the anchored end of the push bar body 16b be precisely and very rigidly secured to the appropriate portion of the door. The rigid bracket 17 provides a relatively large amount of bearing and clamping surface area. Closely coordinated with this bracket is an aflixing screw 18 which is interposed between the groove 17d of the bracket head and the opposed groove 16g formed longitudinally in the body of the push bar (see FIGS. 3 and 4). This screw as it is turned from the entering position makes its own thread in the said grooved portions 16g and 17d and also incidentally as the screw is torque-advanced draws the body member 16b slightly to the right in the bracket head and is effective to provide an extremely strong clamping pressure between the bar body 16b and the head of the bracket 17. The body of the bar is thus precisely disposed with an eflicient fulcrum or flexing anchorage and would not appreciably sag at its free or turned end even though no slide supporting surfaces were provided by the channel member 14, or escutcheon plates 12 and 13.

Because of the slight drawing action which takes place when the screw 18 is set, our installment instructions call for cutting the body 1 6g at its straight end to proper length for traversing the vertical rails of the particular door and then originally setting the cut end of the bar into the head of bracket 17 with the extremity of the cut end disposed about an eighth of an inch inwardly of the right hand (as shown) edge of the channel head portion. The subsequent full turning of the screw will then cause the clamping action to be effected while drawing the cut end of the bar substantially flush with the adjacent end of the bracket. Some adjustment in the tensioning of the bar is possible with the screw and channeled head construction of brackets 17 if the bar at its cut straight end is variously adjusted relative to its fitting within the head of bracket 17.

In installing our improved structure in a door, the vertical rail at the free edge of the door is first bored to form the aperture R and then the body of the bar is cut to the proper length for the width of the particular door on which installation is to be made. The integral bar is then thrust through the aperture R of the door with its straight end foremost, the arcuately curved portions near the free end of the bar permitting readily turning of the bar as it is fully thrust through the apertured portion. The inner escutcheon plate 12 rigidly carrying the latch-bar-channel 14 is then slid upon the bar starting at the straight cut end thereof and will readily slide around the curved portion which precedes the straight door traversing portions 16a of the bar.

The door traversing straight portion 16a of the bar as'shown in FIG. 7 is provided with a medial horizontal slot 16a which accommodates the outer end of the short bell crank arm 11 at the latch bar and a small vertical pin 19 (see FIG. 5) pivots said arm 11b within the confines of the slotted portion of bar section 16a.

It will readily be seen that the escutcheon plates 12 and 13 are much longer than the diameter of the small aperture R and are considerably wider so that properly mounted on the door traversing portion 16a of the bar the escutcheon plates before securing the same by screws may be adjusted vertically and to a limited extent horizontally to make sure that the relationship of the bracket 17 as afiixed and the received cut end of the bar is proper within the teaching of this invention.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that one size of push bar may be provided for doors of all conventional widths which at present for vertical hinged screen and storm doors comprise at least six different sizes. With our closely cooperating attachment bracket 17 and readily cutable bar material our structure is readily applicable to all conventional size doors without the changes in structure or dimensions for the various width doors.

As described and with the straight end of the bar body tightly secured in the rigid bracket 17, the bar with the latch element in the retained position as shown in FIG. 5 is always under some tension urging the locking head of the latch bar against the edge of the catch or detent.

A person wishing to release the latch and simultaneously push the door open may simply push or bump the bar body 16b with hip, leg or torso thereby flexing the bar body 16b inwardly towards the screen and in so doing swinging the outer longer end of the latch bar 11 inwardly to release latching relation with the strike plate 10. The action is so instantaneous that the door also will be pushed to open position or may be further pushed by more pressure exerted against the body of the latch bar which also acts in a capacity of a well-spaced screen or glass guard on doors of the class described.

aortas i6 Inward swinging of the door, of course, causes the camming surface 11d of the latch bar to ride over and be cammed outwardly against the inclined surface 100 of the strike plate with, however, the tension being applied by the then flexed resilient bar body 16b so that immediately upon passage of the locking shoulder 11c beyond the detent edge of the strike plate the resiliency of the bar immediately causes retaining of the latch bar in the strike plate.

It will be readily seen that from the outside of the door when the handle portion 161 is pulled outwardly, the push bar 16b is flexed moving latch head 11a out of retaining engagement and simultaneously opening the door.

The structure of our integral push bar 16 and cooperating attachment brackets 17 lends itself to multifunctional use. The stock of the push bar 16 may be economically extruded from many different metals such as aluminum alloys in straight form and adequate lengths of the stock out off and shaped by dies and cut into the form of bar shown in FIGS. 1 and 5.

On the other hand, straight lengths of the extrusion or bar body 16g may be properly cut for guard rails and rigidly aflixed to a pair of our cooperating attachment brackets 17 as shown in FIG. 6 to provide guard rails for various uses in screen and glass door and window construction and the like. In this connection as shown in FIG. 6, the bar 20 has aifixed to the two ends thereof the attachment brackets 17 identical in all respects for the brackets previously described and rigid attachment is made between the ends of the bar and brackets by the screws 18 identical in function and structure for the screws first described in the specification. In such a structure, if the brackets have the declined abutment surfaces on the attachment-end-feet thereof, the guard bar or rail will be slightly bowed in its operative-position as shown.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that we have provided a highly eflicient push-released door latch structure adapted to be manufactured in quantity at low cost and particularly well suited for easy and quick installation on conventional screen and storm doors now utilized. It further will be seen that through the use of an integral common resilient bar, several functions and advantages are obtained which in prior art structures required a multiplicity of parts operating in most instances with less efiiciency than ours. Our integral push bar in addition to supplying the release mechanism, the tensioning mechanism and outside handle means for the door also provides a useful and ornate guard bar or rail for protecting screen or glass panels in the door.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the various parts without departing from the scope of our invention.

What is claimed is:

l. Latch and push-release structure for vertically hinged doors having in combination a latch member mounted adjacent the free edge of the door for shifting inwardly and outwardly relative to the door jamb, a mul-ti-functional bar having an elongated body constructed throughout of resilient metal and disposed transversely and substantially horizontally of said door, said body being easily severable at one substantially straight end thereof for adjustment to doors varying in width, a rigid mounting bracket having attachment means for rigid fastening to a vertical door member adjacent the hinged edge thereof, said bracket having a head provided with an internal surface closely conforming to the cross sectional shape of the substantially straight end of said body, means for rigidly and positively atfixing the terminal portion of the straight end of said bar to said head to enable the unnflixed elongated body throughout its length to flex toward and away from said door, the opposite end of said body being free for shifting with the flexing of said body and having a connection with said latch member for shifting the same when said bar-body is flexed inwardly towards said door, thereby releasing said latch member and simultaneously tensioning said body for subsequent return and locking of said latch bar when flexing is released.

2. Latch and push-release structure for vertically hinged doors having in combination a latch member mounted adjacent the free edge of the door for shifting inwardly and outwardly relative to the door jamb, a multifunctional bar having an elongated body constructed throughout of resilient metal and disposed transversely and substantially horizontally of said door, said body being easily severable at one substantially straight end thereof for adjustment to doors varying in width, a rigid mounting bracket having attachment means for rigidfastening to a vertical door member adjacent the hinged edge thereof, said bracket having a head provided with internal opposed channels for snugly seating and conforming to the edges of the straight end of said bar and said head having a surface for conforming to one of the side surfaces of the straight portion of said bar and a wedging means insertable between said last mentioned surface of said head and the opposed side of the engaged straight portion of said bar for tightly clamping one end of said bar in a precise position spaced from the vertical inner wall of said door to enable the unclarnped elongated body to flex toward and away from said door, the opposite end of said body being free for shifting with the flexing of said body and having a connection with said latch member for shifting the same when said bar-body is flexed inwardly towards said door to thereby release said latch member and to simultaneously tension said body for subsequent return and locking of said latch bar when flexing is released.

3. Latch and push-release structure for vertically hinged doors having in combination a latch member mounted adjacent the free edge of the door for shifting inwardly and outwardly relative to the door jarnb, a multifunctional bar having an elongated body constructed throughout of resilient metal and disposed transversely and substantially horizontally of said door, said body being easily severable at one substantially straight end thereof for adjustment to doors varying in width, a rigid mounting bracket having attachment means for rigid fastening to a vertical door member adjacent the hinged edge thereof, said bracket having a head provided with internal opposed channels for snugly seating and conforming to the edges of the straight end of said bar and said head having a surface for conforming to one of the side surfaces of the straight portion of said bar, said side surface and the conforming surface of said head having opposed grooves therein extending to one end of said head and a screw insertable between said grooves and screwed therein to make its own threads for positively clamping and afiixing said seated end of the bar in a precise position spaced from the vertical inn-er wall of the door to enable the unclamped, elongated body throughout its length to flex toward and away from said door, the opposite end of said body being free for shifting with the flexing of said body and hawing a direct connection with said latch member for shifting the same when said bar-body is flexed inwardly towards said door, thereby releasing said latch member and simultaneously tensioning said body for subsequent return and locking of said latch bar when flexation is released.

4. Latch and push-release structures for vertically hinged doors having in combination a latch member mounted adjacent the free edge of the door for shifting inwardly and outwardly relative to the door jamb, a multifunctional bar having an elongated body constructed throughout of resilient metal and disposed transversely and substantially horizontally of said door, said body being easily severable at one substantially straight end thereof for adjustment to doors varying in width, a rigid mounting bracket having attachment means for rigid fastening to a vertical door member adjacent the hinged 7 edge thereof, said bracket having a head provided with internal opposed channels for snugly seating and conforming to the edges of the straight and of said bar and said 'head having a surface for conforming to one of the side surfaces of the straight pontion of said bar and a Wedging means insertable between said last mentioned surface of said head and the opposed side of the engaged straight portion of said bar for tightly clamping one end of said bar in a precise position spaced from the vertical inner wall of said door to enable the unclarnped elongated body to flex toward and away from said door, the opposite end of said body being free for shifting with the flexing of said body and having an angular portion extending through anapenture in the door adjacent the free edge thereof and having a direct connection with the said latch member for releasing said latch member when said body is flexed inwardly towards said door and for tensionin-g the body of said bar to subsequently return said latch member to locking position when flexing is released.

5. The structure set forth claim 4 further characterized by an extension connected with the door traversing angled portion of said bar extending beyond the side of said door opposite to that upon which said bar body is positioned and acting as a handle for releasing said latch member and simultaneously tensioning said bar body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 975,456 Prevost Nov. 15, 1910 1,634,195 Johnston June 28, 1927 1,814,317 Lebherz July 14, 1931 1,860,780 Kees May 31, 1932 2,087,165 Ruth July 13, 1937 2,481,990 Ehrke Sept. 13, 1949 2,871,050 Dickinson Jan. 27,, 1959 

